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Marvel & Fox team up for 2 new X-Men TV shows

Enough already, Marvel!!!

Just when we thought the comic company had reached its limits of over-saturating our TV and cinema screens, 20th Century Fox and Marvel Studios have signed a deal to co-produce not one, but two new TV shows based on characters from the X-Men universe; Hellfire, and Legion.

It was announced earlier today that the two entertainment giants, whose latest overlap on this year’s Fantastic Four didn’t work out so well, will now be turning their joint attention to the small screen to create Hellfire for FOX Network and Legion for FX.

And while these new series will exist separately from the MCU, they could potentially crossover with Fox’s X-Men film universe. We know already that Hellfire will expand upon the clandestine ‘Hellfire Club’ portrayed in X-Men: First Class, where it was comprised of Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), Emma Frost (January Jones), Angel Salvadore (Zoe Kravitz), Azazel (Jason Flemyng), and Riptide (Alex Gonzalez). The new series will also take place in the 1960s, and focus on “a young Special Agent who learns that a power-hungry woman with extraordinary abilities is working with a clandestine society of millionaires – known as The Hellfire Club – to take over the world”. However, we doubt Bacon, Jones et al will be taking on recurring roles.

Jonathan Davis, Fox’s President of Creative Affairs, said of Hellfire:

“Hellfire is a unique opportunity to be able to go deeper with some of these extraordinary characters, but to also dramatise new characters and give TV viewers a chance to experience this expanded world in an explosive way that everyone will be talking about. The action at the centre of Hellfire will be dynamic and will satisfy the rabid fans, but that said, newcomers will surely be addicted too!”

Meanwhile, Legion will centre around the origin story of young David Haller, also known as ‘Legion’ after his multiple personality disorder, who has family ties to X-Men legend, and mutant powers that were wrongly diagnosed as schizophrenia in his teenage years.

“Legion is just the sort of ambitious story that Noah excels at. His adaption of Fargo for television was one of the most acclaimed television events in recent memory. It’s also an honour to partner with Marvel on Legion and to enlist such an accomplished team of Executive Producers to create this pilot.”

Significantly, this partnership between Marvel TV and Fox means that the two companies are willing to exchange licensing for comics properties. Will this also apply to film rights? Only time can tell.